Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery (IIGJ) Mumbai will now offer a specialised module in Jewellery Management in collaboration with Welingkar Institute of Management as part of its three year Jewellery Design & Manufacturing Techniques programme. The course will be offered from the academic year 2016-17.

Vasant Mehta, Chairman, IIGJ Mumbai and Prof Emeritus V.H. Iyer, Dean, Welingkar Institute of Management, signed an agreement announcing the collaboration at a special event at the IIGJ Mumbai campus today.

With this, IIGJ will be the first institute in the country to offer a complete graduate course on Gems and Jewellery including Operations Management for emerging jewellery professionals and entrepreneurs. 

Vasant Mehta said that the day was an important milestone for the institute which was the first to introduce an intensive academic course for professionals in the jewellery industry over 12 years ago. “We have always imparted training in Management Techniques as part of our three year course, but now we are taking it to a higher level with a module that is specially developed for the industry by the experts of Welingkar Institute,” he commented.

Praveenshankar Pandya, Chairman, GJEPC, said that the Council is focused on developing jewellery exports from India as part of the Make in India vision unveiled by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. “We are undertaking a number of important initiatives in this regard, such as upgrading the skills of the existing workforce, getting international experts to work with leading manufacturers to develop better and more advanced systems at the workplaces, etc,” he said.

This was the context in which the tie up between IIGJ, the foremost jewellery training institute in the country and Welingkar’s, a leading academic organisation imparting management education should be seen. “Training our students in professional management techniques is an important part of the process of making India the top jewellery manufacturer in the world. It will equip the industry with additional skills to take this leap,” he added.

Sanjay Kothari, Director, IIGJ Mumbai said that the signing of the agreement to introduce professional management education was a historic step. It is one of the many taken by the institute in the recent past to keep pace with the changing needs of the indsutry.

Prof. Dr V H Iyer said that Welingkar’s had always believed that management education should impart general principles and also have an industry-interface to groom better managers and entrepreneurs. He said, “We are happy to partner with IIGJ to offer India’s first graduate programme in Gems and Jewellery. With these courses we will be able to contribute in the nation’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, as skilled and trained work force will always be required in the gems and jewellery industry.”

The new course is being introduced along with an increase in the number of seats for the three year programme. Sunjoy Ghosh, Head, IIGJ Mumbai said, “Instead of the 30 students per batch we had previously, from the coming academic year we will take in 50 students for the three-year programme. Half of them will be part of the Diploma course with a specialisation in Management during their 5th semester, while the others will have the option of choosing to focus on Design & Merchandising, Manufacturing & PD or Sales & Marketing as before.”

IIGJ already offers a three year BA in Jewellery Design & Manufacturing Techniques with a degree from Mewar University and is hopeful that its courses will soon be recognised by Mumbai University and other major universities across India. In addition, it conducts shorter-term specialised courses in various aspects of jewellery manufacturing and related fields. It also offers customised training for jewellery manufacturers and retailers, as well as for other institutions such as BIS in hallmarking and to banks in Gold Appraisal. Over the last decade it has trained nearly 8,000 students.

Pic Caption: After signing the agreement (from  l to r) Sanjay Kothari (Director IIGJ), Tanaz Daruwalla (Welingkar's), Namita Pandya (Convener, IIGJ Tardeo), Praveenshankar Pandya (Chairman-GJEPC & Director-IIGJ), Vasant Mehta(Chairman, IIGJ Mumbai),  Prof.Emeritus V.H.Iyer (Dean, Management Development Center, We School, Welingkar's) and Sanjoy Ghosh (Head, IIGJ)